FEBRUARY 2, 2006

Brazilian to test Williams

Brazilian influence at Williams has dropped off in recent months with the departure from the team of Antonio Pizzonia but that has not stopped team sponsor Petrobras wanting to use the Williams programmes for its own marketing and thus Japanese Formula 3 champion Joao Paulo de Oliveira, a Petrobras driver, will get his first chance to test in F1 this week in Valencia. The 24-year-old has been racing since 1998 and has won titles in Formula 3 in South America, Germany and Japan, winning a total of 26 races in the course of the last three years but being unable to move up because of lack of funding. His success in Japan, however, seems to have paid off and Oliveira is expected to be named to drive for the DoCoMo Dandelion team in Formula Nippon this year and as a Nissan factory driver in the Super-GT series.